Developing an “Awakened Brain”
In her research conducted at Columbia University, Dr. Lisa Miller showed that we are hardwired to have an “awakened brain.” This research found the area in the brain where religiosity and spirituality is experienced using anatomical MRIs of the brain. Based on these results, Dr. Miller contends that the search for a spiritual connection is inherent to the human brain, though we live in a society that is becoming more and more disconnected with spirituality and religion.
Not only are we hardwired to have an “awakened brain,” but Dr. Miller found that people who are religious or spiritual experience a significant mental health benefit. The research showed that spirituality is up to 80% protective against both depression and addiction, and those who are spiritual have a thicker cortex in the brain regions she found associated with spirituality.
So, What is an “Awakened Brain?”
Many definitions exist for spirituality. Here are two prominent definitions that emerged from research. Dr. Brene Brown defines spirituality as:
“...recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that power and to one another is grounded in love and compassion. Practicing spirituality brings a sense of perspective, meaning, and purpose to our lives (1).”
Dr. Miller defines spirituality as:
“An inner sense of relationship to a higher power that is loving and guiding. The word we give to this higher power might be God, nature, spirit, the universe, the creator, or other words that represent a divine presence. But the important point is that spirituality encompasses our relationship and dialogue with this higher presence (2).”
In 2016 Dr. Miller sought to find universal dimensions of spirituality, surveying people across the world who identified as a variety of religious traditions and those who identified as spiritual but not religious. She found five common spiritual phenotypes:
Altruism
Love of Neighbor as Self
Sense of Oneness
Practice of Sacred Transcendence
Adherence to Moral Code
The research also found that the first two phenotypes, altruism and love of neighbor as self, were responsible for the enhanced cortical thickness that protected against depression, while the other factors did not share the same benefit.
How does spirituality differ from religion? Research by Dr. Kenneth Kendler used the term “personal conservatism,” to refer to the strict adherence to the rule that is involved in religion and the term “personal devotion” to refer to a relationship with a higher power that exists in both spirituality and religion. Questions to measure “personal conservatism” asked, for example, about “belief that God rewards and punishes” and “literal belief in the bible,” Questions to measure “personal devotion” asked, for example, about “frequency of private prayer” and “frequency of seeking spiritual comfort.” Kendler found that some people scored high on both measures while some only scored high on one measure. This research demonstrated that people can be both religious and spiritual, only religious, or only spiritual. Interestingly, the results also found that ‘personal devotion” provided mental benefit while “personal conservatism” did not display the same beneficial effect (3).
How to Develop an Awakened Brain
The awakened brain can be developed through the practice of awakened awareness. Awakened awareness is the opposite of achieving awareness, where we are seeking organization and control. Awakened awareness searchers for meaning, inspiration, and guidance from the universe. When we are in achieving awareness, we see ourselves as independent makers of our path, but when we are in awakened awareness we see ourselves as seekers of our path.
Awakened awareness includes the dimensions of awakened attention, awakened connection, and awakened heart.
Awakened attention: paying attention to signs and meaning from the universe, paying attention to synchronicities is an example of an awakened attention practice
Awakened connection: experiencing connection with all that is, including ancestors, loved ones, higher selves, higher power, other people, the universe, and all living beings
Awakened heart: practicing and expressing love for others, altruism, and a commitment to other beings; the link between divine love and human love
In large part, developing awakened awareness involves asking and finding the answers to The Big Questions, aka questions that search for meaning and purpose in our lives. Examples of these questions include: What is life showing me now? Where is my compass pointing me? How do I engage and find deeper, more true direction in my life? Dr. Miller called this process of asking life’s big questions the quest orientation. In quest orientation, we are open to asking questions of life, taking in life’s messages, and using life’s direction to shape our decisions and actions. She found that a “questing” brain is a highly connected brain, opposite to a brain that is dysfunctionally connected in depression. Questing connects our achieving awareness and awakened awareness together (4).
Practices
Seek out and track synchronicities in your life
Create a roadmap of your life
Identify parts along your route where you experienced pain, loss, or heartbreak. Identify doors that opened and helpers you encountered during this period of loss
Higher power journaling
Ask a question to your higher power and write a response that is written from pure love
Consult your council
Imagine your higher self and two or three other people who you imagine to represent pure love and only have your best interests at heart. These people can be real or imaginary, dead or alive. Imagine what advice this group would give you for a circumstance you are currently experiencing.
Resources:
https://brenebrown.com/articles/2018/03/27/defining-spirituality/
Kendler KS, Gardner CO, Prescott CA. Clarifying the relationship between religiosity and psychiatric illness: the impact of covariates and the specificity of buffering effects. Twin Research. 1999;2(2):137-144. doi:10.1375/twin.2.2.137
Miller, L. (2021) The Awakened Brain.
